Jim Mora might have caught up on his reading list during the bye week.

After UCLA’s Wednesday morning practice, the first-year head coach acknowledged the weekend tilt at Arizona State could mean a lot for the Pacific-12 Conference’s South Division race. And he did so while nodding not only to another hemisphere, but another millennium.

“Not to get all philosophical, but Sun Tzu said, `Opportunities multiply as they are seized,”‘ he said. “(The Sun Devils have) taken advantage and put themselves in a position where they can do some good things if they can finish strong. And we can do some good things if we finish strong.”

Last November, the Bruins’ one-point victory over the Sun Devils helped them clinch a spot in the inaugural Pac-12 Championship. That squad benefited from USC’s postseason ban; this time around, UCLA has five weeks left to try to leapfrog the Trojans and Arizona State.

Both teams have 5-2 records.

Arizona State, however, is 3-1 in conference – its lone loss coming against undefeated Oregon – while the Bruins are 2-2.

Pressed further on the stakes, Mora tried to tighten the picture and focus only on the week at hand.

“We don’t want to talk too much about the long-term future – we want about talk about this game and Arizona State and going out to get a win – but I did point out to them earlier in the week where we sit and what’s out there for us if we just decide to go out there and go get it,” he said. “It’s not something I do a whole lot, look too far down the line.”

The message has trickled to the players. The remaining home slate features season-ending visits from USC and Stanford, but the Bruins are trying to focus on their trip to Tempe.

“You’ve got to see what’s down the road, but initially, you’ve got to see what’s right in front of your feet, right under your nose,” Bruins safety Andrew Abbott said. “This game means a lot to us, but all these next five games do.”

Quiet time

UCLA’s six-turnover faceplant at Cal on Oct. 6 still bothers Mora, who said he would like to see his team prove itself in any environment.

But artificial crowd noise hasn’t been used to simulate the road environment, and likely won’t be implemented later in the season either. Mora said the team relies primarily on nonverbal communication such as hand signals; the effect of crowd noise should be negligible at best.

“Cal was the most significant crowd noise we’ve seen and we didn’t seem to have any problems with it,” Mora added. “Bill Walsh didn’t like crowd noise because he liked to have a good crisp practice. He thought communication and coaching during practice was more important …

“I think we gave (our team) a lot of crowd noise during the spring and got used to it. They showed me a maturity level that they can handle it.”

Jack Wang covers the Chargers, the latest NFL team to relocate to Los Angeles. He previously covered the Rams, and also spent four years on the UCLA beat, a strange period in which the Bruins' football program often outpaced their basketball team. He is a proud graduate of UC Berkeley, where he spent most of his time in The Daily Californian offices in Eshleman Hall — a building that did not become earthquake-safe until after his time on campus.